Selling stuff to educate kids

By Melanie Ruiz

This Saturday, Oct. 24, City College of San Francisco (CCSF) is holding a garage sale and flea market to raise money to help offset billions of dollars cut from the state's public education budget. The district lost $20-25 million this school year under the current state budget, a decision that Milton Marks, president of the CCSF Board of Trustees, says was “made in error and is short-sided.”

Marks admits that it, “really is absurd for the college to be doing this,” but said it illustrates what public agencies are being forced to do to survive in this no-tax climate. The money raised through the sale of donated goods will go to restoring classes and increasing counseling services for the spring semester. In August, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger created the “Great California Garage Sale,” in which state property was sold for just over $1.6 million, a drop in the bucket for the education sector's needs.

With furloughs, class cuts, and tuition increases littering our public education system, schools have to do something to mitigate the situation for both students and faculty, including fostering a sense of community. There has been great support from people, says Marks, as this event, “gives people a sense of community and helps them feel like they are able to do something.”

Marks envisions the sale as not just a way to generate funds for the college but also a chance to educate the general public about the current state of public schools. “People need to know what's going on with education,” Marks said. He wagers that people don't understand how much has been cut and the impact it has on individuals' lives. This situation especially affects minorities and students who are financially dependent on working full-time and receiving financial aid.

Due to standing agreements with unions, there could be no layoffs, so student services incurred the losses from state funding. These services, including counseling, tutoring, matriculation, and retention programs, help “to keep many students in school and focused and help them succeed,” Marks said. In order to maintain these vital programs, about 800 classes have been cut from the school's offerings. The education trailer bill, signed by Schwarzenegger, also increases the community college enrollment fees from $20 per unit to $26. The increase in fees, combined with the cut classes, prolongs many students' time-to-degree, even forcing some to drop out.

The state is going to have to find better ways to solve the budget crisis than flea markets and no-tax promises. The educational sector warns that cutting education funding is not the answer. In fact, a report by the California Faculty Association concludes that California's economy “has matured to the stage at which higher education is a key determinant of success both for individuals and for the state as a whole.” Yet California is investing less in public education this year.

Marks hopes that CCSF's garage sale will help redouble advocacy efforts to rethink money for public education. Put simply, “the state's wrong,” Marks said. In the CFA report, Tom Mortenson, senior scholar at The Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education in Washington, DC., wrote, “ultimately California will have to decide whether to accept its now well-established slide toward mediocrity or to reverse course in pursuit of a more economically prosperous, socially harmonious, politically vital and healthier future,” a decision that he says will be reflected in its investment policies in higher education.

The response to this weekend's sale has been promising. As of now, there are 35 vendors occupying about 50 spaces. Marks hopes to get at least 10 more before Saturday. There will be 75 volunteers working shifts between 6am and 6pm. He also urges people to consider making cash donations directly to the college foundation. A link for donating can be found on the garage sale web page. The sale will take place this Saturday from 8 am to 4 pm in the street-level parking area of the Balboa Reservoir at the Ocean Campus.

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